October 12th 2026
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WellBeing Magazine
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Once upon a time in lands that were uncultivated, raw and unadulterated by humans and their machines, the soil was rich in nutrients and we obtained all the vitamins and minerals we needed from the natural vegetation that abounded in these vast swathes of land, and by hunting down and eating the animals also nourished by these greens, plants and trees. As much as our forebears appreciated the pleasure of eating, in those primitive times they enjoyed the succulent, wholesome taste of these foods long before they were impregnated with fat and sugar to make us gorge ourselves into oblivion.
Then man felt the need to mechanise and improve his comforts, and along came the industrial and agricultural revolutions, which denatured the soils. Fruits and vegetables found themselves depleted of essential vitamins and nutrients, and they became increasingly tasteless.
Vitamin companies seized upon this opportunity to manufacture supplements that might provide us with all the nutrients that foods can no longer give us. This is the story of one such vitamin.
Vitamin B6 is under siege from the health authorities amid claims, often unsubstantiated, that we might inadvertently be steeped in excessive
amounts of this vitamin, either from food sources or supplementary origins of which we might be unaware. This overabundance can damage our nerves, leading to numbness, tingling and pain, which can take up to six months to reverse once we have identified this cause and then aborted the surplus to which we are exposed.
This development and concomitant angst that we are being bathed in toxicity is inopportune, as vitamin B6 is vital for so many essential biochemical functions — for starters, our capacity to utilise fats and carbohydrates to manufacture energy and protein to replenish our DNA, and to provide us with the crucial substrate that forms the backbone of cellular regeneration as we discard and rebuild new cells. We need this vitamin to manufacture all of our hormones, seed the brain chemicals that override our emotions, fortify the immune system, make haemoglobin that carries oxygen to our tissues, and to detoxify and eliminate the myriad chemicals that besiege our bodies. Homocysteine is a protein we all have which can lead to heart disease, stroke and osteoporosis when levels climb too high, and vitamin B6, along with vitamin B12, is indispensable for the recycling of this substance, seeing to it that it does us no harm.
In fact, a lack of vitamin B6 can also lead to nerve impairment, and many experts are proclaiming that it is a deficiency rather than a surfeit which is our major problem. Aside from nerve injury, too little B6 can cause depression, irritability, confusion, anaemia, a weakened immune system, dermatitis and sores at the sides of our mouth.
Meat and fish are the principal sources, with green vegetables providing a less bioavailable reservation. A healthy microbiome also furnishes us with added vitamin B6. Breakfast cereals, multivitamin supplements, energy drinks and protein powders all contain extra amounts of this vitamin. Ideally we should not be getting more than 50mg a day. Some vitamin B supplements harbour the active form of vitamin B6 known as pyridoxal 5-phosphate, and this would be the one to take.
To obtain and activate vitamin B6 we need optimal gut, liver and kidney function, vitamin B2, albumin and haemoglobin to transport this vitamin around our bodies, and enzymes that allow B6 to move from our bloodstream into our cells, which are zinc dependent. Inflammation of the gut, coeliac disease, gluten intolerance and bacteria and parasites that infiltrate our gut, all limit B6 absorption.
A lack of vitamin B6 is associated with peripheral neuropathy found in diabetes. Alcohol is also the enemy of vitamin B6, leading to the accumulation in the bloodstream of the inactive form of this vitamin, which can also contribute to the development of neuropathy.
For those who are suffering from numbness, tingling and nerve pain and want to fi nd out if they are overdosing on vitamin B6, a morning fasting blood test taken after three days of abstinence from all supplements, together with kidney and liver function, blood glucose levels, a test for inflammation, and albumin and haemoglobin status, are all important to determine if it is indeed an excess of vitamin B6 which is damaging the nervous system.
The flipside of this, that we are in fact suffering from a deficiency of vitamin B6, is what many health mavens are proclaiming is the more likely scenario, inasmuch as there are many other nutrient deficiencies which can compromise our nervous systems, including vitamins B1, B2 and B12, vitamin D, iron, magnesium, vitamin E and copper, together with a host of pharmaceuticals and medical conditions. Arriving at the root cause of this conundrum would require a physician who is well versed with all the nuances of vitamin deficiency and excess.
Dr Michael Elstein is a Sydney-based anti-ageing physician and writer. He is the author of three books including his latest, The Wellness Guide to Preventing the Diseases of Ageing. He has also designed the app The Diet Guide to Ageing Prevention.
The post Too much or not enough vitamin B6? appeared first on WellBeing Magazine.
Read the full article here:
https://www.wellbeing.com.au/at-home/too-much-or-not-enough-vitamin-b6.html
